Trump’s Perfect Storm that Could Sink the American Economy
Donald Trump has steered the American economy into a perfect storm. In the book, film, and now in real life, a rare combination of destructive forces comes together and magnifies the damage. This storm could break the U.S. economy. Trump’s tariffs are the most destructive force. Their first-order damages begin by arbitrarily driving up the prices of every product and… Continue reading
Scoping Out “Plan B” for Climate Change
Beyond the public’s view, major players in the climate change debate are reassessing their options. In fact, as the prospects of Congress approving a cap-and-trade system fade, discussion is shifting to “Plan B.†One reason is that the version of cap-and-trade which just barely passed the House of Representatives a few months ago, the Waxman-Markey bill, made so many concessions…Continue reading
Who Really Will Pay for Goldman Sachs’ $23 Billion in…
It was an auspicious week for the touchy issues surrounding executive pay. One after another, President Obama’s pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, announced new restrictions for AIG executives; Goldman Sachs was reported to be putting aside $23 billion for this year’s bonus pool, the largest anywhere, ever; and Elinor Ostrom from Indiana University shared the Nobel Prize in economics for her…Continue reading
What Washington Should Understand and Do to Create Jobs
Policymakers and pundits finally are worried about a “jobless recovery†– and our actual prospects are worse than that term suggests. The initial expansion we may already be experiencing will be notable not for a lack of new jobs, as the phrase “jobless recovery†suggests, but for substantial, continued job losses. Total employment will continue to decline for many months…Continue reading
The Latest Attack on the Census is an Attack on…
The latest fight over the Decennial Census is part of a 30 years’ war over efforts to count everyone in America, including immigrants, minorities and poor people. It’s become an ongoing war, because the Census carries such large consequences. The Constitution mandates a census every decade, because the founders saw a regular, state-by-state population count as the best way to…Continue reading
Message to World at the G-20 Summit: Don’t Depend on…
This week’s U.N. General Assembly and the countless, private discussions between presidents, premiers and prime ministers will range from climate change to terrorism, but most of the leaders are more preoccupied with the outlook for their economies. In this sense, the UN meeting is an opening act for the main attraction, the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh at the end of…Continue reading
The Democrats’ Surprising Emergence as a Real Governing Party
The Republican Party is reconstituting itself in ways that are reshaping the Democrats into a genuine governing party. The tip-off is the GOP’s growing inability — and that’s what it is — to engage with the President and congressional majority in any meaningful give-and-take about the deepest recession since the early 1930s or some form of health care reform. So,…Continue reading
The Potential Cost of Political Paralysis: The Lesson of Japan
A political earthquake hit Japan this week, one which could hold important lessons for America’s current political stalemates. After a half-century of one-party rule, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was buried in parliamentary elections by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), a loose coalition of generally left-of-center opposition parties. The elections were less a matter of partisan competition than an…Continue reading
The Conundrums in Health Care Reform
The political furor over health care reform, and especially the media coverage, may be triggered by right-wing agitprop; but the cynical distortions – death panels! – fed by hard Republican partisans are not responsible for eroding public support. Health care reform will always be a tough sale. Three-quarters of Americans believe we need serious reform; yet two-thirds of those who…Continue reading